Reporters in Entwistle case will not face judge

Thursday

May 29, 2008 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2008 at 4:55 PM

Lawyers for a British man accused of killing his wife and daughter, Rachel, 27, and Lillian Rose, 9 months, more than two years ago dropped their efforts to have two journalists reveal anonymous sources they used in an article.

Norman Miller

Lawyers for a British man accused of killing his wife and daughter, Rachel, 27, and Lillian Rose, 9 months, more than two years ago dropped their efforts to have two journalists reveal anonymous sources they used in an article.

Elliot Weinstein, who represents Neil Entwistle, 29, said Wednesday he would drop the subpoena of Boston Herald reporter Laurel Sweet and former Herald reporter Michelle McPhee, because the information was no longer needed.

The pair had co-authored an article that ran in the Herald on Nov. 15, 2007, about a letter Entwistle wrote to his lawyers hinting at suicide that guards found in his jail cell.

Weinstein had issued subpoenas to both reporters so they would be compelled to reveal the source who gave them the letter.

Wednesday, Sweet and McPhee's lawyer, Elizabeth Ritvo, prepared to have the subpoenas quashed, but the hearing was not needed.

Prosecutor Daniel Bennett, who is assisting prosecutor Michael Fabbri in the case, said the letter was not going to be entered into evidence.

"Mr. Fabbri has already said he never saw the letter. I've never seen the letter and we don't plan on introducing the letter,'' Bennett said.

Weinstein said he issued the subpoenas because he thought prosecutors were going to try to use it during the murder trial, scheduled to start Monday in Superior Court.

"That changes the landscape,'' he said.

Middlesex Superior Court Judge Diane Kottmyer said the hearing was then "moot,'' and it was not heard.

Sweet referred all comments to Ritvo, while McPhee could not be reached for comment.

Entwistle is charged with shooting his wife and daughter on Jan. 20, 2006, in the 6 Cubs Path, Hopkinton, home they rented to hide a life of debt and online business scams.

He is being held without bail at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge. If convicted of first-degree murder, he will be sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole.